1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a multipurpose marine life container or cage which has holes, slots or other perforations for the passage of water and air therethrough and which may be used as a holding pen for bait fish or other marine life, as a chum pot, as a self-tending bait pot or trap and as a manually tending bait pot or trap. The multipurpose marine life container may be variously formed but is preferably formed out of molded plastic or the like and incorporates two substantially identical clam shell-like halves joined together along a parting line or plane.
2. Description of Related Art
Watermen, fishermen, crabbers and other persons experiencing recreation near or on bodies of water containing various forms of marine life often have use for a marine life holding pen, a chum pot, a self-tending bait or crab pot or a tending bait or crab pot, and each of these structures usually has a significantly different construction and requires various types of maintenance. Prior U.S. patents disclose various different forms of marine life traps or pots. For example, Nudell U.S. Pat. No. 2,912,785 discloses a combined minnow bucket and minnow trap including major side wall portions constructed of wire mesh and including opposite end entrance openings for minnows, the openings having swingable closure disks operatively associated therewith. Parker U.S. Pat. No. 3,800,464 discloses a fish trap constructed from plastic mesh combined with a wire frame and includes a removable entrance cone or funnel pivotally mounted on the frame and held in place by spring loaded hooks connected to the frame. The patent to Sjolund, U.S. Pat. No. 4,221,071, discloses a crab trap incorporating different size mesh panels to allow the escape of smaller species of crabs through the larger mesh panels.
Tarantino U.S. Pat. No. 4,611,424 discloses a selectable entry shell fish trap incorporating a joinable two-section molded plastic cage-like enclosure provided with remote side inwardly opening funnel portions for the entrance of shell fish into the trap. The patent to Wyman et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,168,653, discloses an entrance gate apparatus for a crab trap or pot including structure for selectably adjusting the effective size of the opening defined by the entrance gate. U.S. Pat. No. 5,353,541 to Jonason et al. discloses a collapsible tending crab trap having a central located bait feeder made of wire mesh material.
Peters et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,357,708 discloses an aquatic trap including a wall portion thereof defining an inwardly opening funnel area with the wall portion pivotally mounted from the remainder of the trap. U.S. Pat. No. 5,478,273 to Ives discloses a crab pot having inwardly opening funnel-like entrance areas provided with pivoted closure members, gravity biased to the closed positions, and which may be pushed toward the open positions from the closed positions by crabs attempting to enter the pot.
Thus, the prior art discloses traps, holding pens and chum pots in one or two forms, but not in all three forms combined. In the prior art, traps are also known to have funnels for the entry of the marine life to be trapped, but not as an adjustable part of the trap. The prior art also discloses traps which can be self-tending (with funnels) or manual tending, with collapsible doors, but not combined in one apparatus or container. Traps are also known in the prior art to have ballast weights or floats, but not ballast tubes configured to fit neatly within the confines of the trap structure itself. Further, the prior art does not disclose an apparatus that allows all of the functions to be performed within one unit, as accomplished by the present invention, especially by simply adjusting the attached parts of the apparatus, and in an apparatus which can be easily assembled and disassembled for cleaning and storage. Finally, the prior art fails to disclose the utilization of biodegradable plastic hooks associated with collapsible doors for environmental purposes or a removable bait basket that fits neatly into the top hatch of the apparatus structure.